You call this a projection?

Was it happening again? That same terrible feeling of powerlessness where she could do absolutely nothing?!

Caster, unable to see the existence of Stands, only saw Kuzuki Souichirou collapse before Emiya Shirou. Even though her Spiritual Core had been destroyed and she would soon return to the Throne of Heroes, as long as she remained within this temple at Ryudou Temple, her connection to the goddess Hecate remained.

Caster still had the power to ”flip the table” at any moment. At the very worst, she could use that connection to directly detonate the magical energy of Fuyuki City’s entire leyline. She hadn’t done so before only because Kuzuki Souichirou was still alive.

But if Kuzuki Souichirou were truly dead, Caster would not let Emiya Shirou live either. She glared at him with eyes full of hatred.

”Rest assured, Kuzuki-sensei is not dead.”

Shirou ignored the threat. Or rather, he knew that Caster’s idea of taking him down with her in a self-destructive blast was fundamentally impossible.

Unlike Assassin—who, after witnessing Shirou’s power, abandoned the pursuit of victory and made his final wish a mutual death—Caster only wanted to survive.

She wanted to live in the modern era with Kuzuki Souichirou using the Holy Grail. Now that she saw Kuzuki fallen and knew she herself couldn’t survive, she had accepted her defeat; all that remained was her spiteful revenge.

This meant that the [Pseudo-Atum] beside Shirou had already firmly seized Caster’s soul. He wouldn’t give her any chance to self-destruct.

However, Shirou was not an unreasonable person.

Having defeated Caster—who was essentially just a ”love-brain” girl and not a lunatic like Gilgamesh who wanted to cull the human population—he saw no need to destroy her spirit along with her body.

He tossed a DISC in front of Caster. Though it was created by a Stand, it was a physical object that could be seen by non-Stand users. It was the DISC belonging to Kuzuki Souichirou.

”This is the DISC containing Kuzuki-sensei’s memories,” Shirou explained. ”As long as this DISC is not returned to his body, Kuzuki-sensei will forget everything regarding the Holy Grail War, and even forget the painful past he can’t bear to look back on.

This is also the way to extract Kuzuki-sensei from the Holy Grail War. Otherwise, as a Master who has lost his Servant, he remains a threat to the other Masters whether he is alive or not. He would be an existence that must be thoroughly eliminated... Having said this much, I think you understand, Caster.”

He watched Caster’s expression shift from initial disbelief to shock, as she saw glimpses of Kuzuki’s memories through the DISC even without inserting it. Finally, her face settled into a look of resolute determination.

”So, what is your choice, Caster?” Shirou continued. ”Will you let Kuzuki-sensei keep these memories, including his memory of you, at the cost of being in constant danger? Or will you let him forget this memory entirely, forget you, and withdraw from this Holy Grail War?”

The question didn’t actually require an answer. If Caster hadn’t tried and realized she couldn’t possibly destroy the DISC, she would have already made her move.

”...Can I trust you? You are a Master chosen by the Grail too. How do I know you won’t go back on your word and kill Souichirou-sama at the end?” Caster finally asked after a long silence.

Facing this question, Shirou simply asked back: ”Do you think I would do that?”

”I don’t think you would.” Caster smiled.

She tossed the DISC back to Shirou.

”I originally thought you were just putting on an act, but I didn’t expect to actually meet someone like you in this era. If you had lived in my time, you surely would have become a great hero known in every age, just like Heracles.”

She was used to intrigue and betrayal. Especially after being summoned to this era and meeting her previous Master—a scumbag so vile even she couldn’t stand him—Caster had almost no positive feelings toward the people of this age.

This was likely why she had fallen for Kuzuki Souichirou. Someone so pure was rare not just in modern times, but even in the era she once lived in.

Now, as she prepared to exit the stage once again, she had encountered another person with such qualities. Was her luck too good, or too bad?

”Then, Souichirou-sama is in your care, Hero of Justice...”

With that final thought, Caster uttered her last words and began to fade away amidst the motes of light that signal a Servant’s departure. Her soul was intercepted by [Pseudo-Atum], transformed into a Class Card, and placed in Shirou’s hand.

At that moment, without Caster’s support, the temple she had constructed within Ryudou Temple—along with the various bounded fields and magical traps—vanished.

This allowed Saber and the others who were still fighting their way through, as well as Rin Tohsaka and her group who arrived later, to quickly reach Shirou.

”Shirou!” ”Emiya-kun!”

However, at this moment, Shirou didn’t have the chance to respond to Saber. He was looking at the DISC Caster had tossed back to him with a look of utter helplessness.

”As expected of the legendary Witch of Betrayal. You were cunning to the very end, Caster.

By seeing Kuzuki-sensei’s memories through the DISC, you saw that he truly felt deep love for you. You didn’t want him to continue participating in the war for your sake, yet you couldn’t bear the thought of him actually forgetting you.

—So you threw the dilemma back to me and said all those flattering things at the end. Truly...”

Read ahead (100 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting